Against the Odds
by Radon65
Summary: This is my own version of events after Justice, so I guess it's AU. Alone on the alien planet, Rush attempts to survive and escape. Meanwhile, without him, the crew of Destiny begins to encounter its own problems.
1. Chapter 1

I should have posted this so much sooner, but mitigating circumstances - (cough) writer's block - compelled me to postpone it. But this really should be posted before they start showing new episodes in April, so I thought I'd better get it up. I hope I can get writing and keep the story going fast enough to keep readers interested. And yes, the first chapter is horrifically short. Consider it a teaser - they'll get longer. Enjoy!

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**Against the Odds**

A lone avian creature winged its way across the desert, searching for any signs of life upon the sand. Its species had no name, as no sentient species had ever lived upon the planet to name it, and it did not think of itself in that manner. It simply followed its instinct to feed. Its sharp eyes missed nothing as it glided over the sand, its large pupils swallowing the shadows of the night. The place it had chosen this night was bare. Sometimes the underground rodents were plentiful in the east, but tonight some disturbance seemed to have frightened them underground. The avian's instincts desired to know of the disturbance - perhaps in it there was an opportunity for sustenance. It dipped into a dive, swung low, and leveled out as it spied the Rock. It was a landmark to the avian, a strangely shaped monolith with smooth sides that had sat in the same place since the avian had first learned flight. Normally the avian paid it little attention, but tonight beside the Rock there was a large creature. It was unlike anything the avian had ever seen before, crawling about on only two legs and touching the Rock's undersides, its odd growls carrying on the wind to the avian's sensitive ears. It sounded angry, aggressive, and the avian shied higher up and circled carefully. The avian was a scavenger. The creature was too alive yet to be set upon.

How long did it have left? The avian's instincts considered the question, watching the creature's gait and noting its difficulty upon the sand. The creature seemed unfortunately hardy, but it was lost - it was not accustomed to the terrain, and it did not fly like the avian. The avian caught the creature's strange scent on the breeze, and a low thrum emanated from its breast as it contemplated the possibility of a meal. The creature was peculiar, but it looked edible enough. The avian's instincts suggested two or three days for the creature to lose its hardiness - to fall on the sand and become prey. Until then, watching the thing was pointless. The avian wheeled, about to leave, when an odd, sharp growl rent the air - a sound that did not seem to come from a living being. Startled, the avian looked down, and saw, for the first time, a change in the Rock. A small cave was suddenly appearing in the Rock's side, and the dirtbound creature gave a different cry, vanishing inside. The avian was disappointed. Somewhere in its mind, it realized that the creature's death would take longer with shelter. But still, there was no water in the area, and the slow, flightless animal would not find any nearby. Eventually, the avian would feast.

The avian at last winged off, content to wait for the time to return.

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Now please review.


	2. Chapter 2

See, the chapter's are getting longer! I'm actually not too fond of the chapter of this story. I started out calling it "Survival of the Fittest," but that wasn't exactly the tone I was going for. So I chose a different title, but I'm not sure if it's quite right, either...  


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**Against the Odds: Chapter 2**

"Colonel?"

Colonel Young looked up from his desk to see T.J. silhouetted in the light from the doorway. He hadn't bothered to turn the lights on his room. He'd been sitting in silence for over 20 minutes, fingering the communication stones and wondering how best to explain Rush's... departure to General O'Neill. He stared blankly at T.J.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but we've got a situation." Her voice was gentle. Young pushed the stones aside and stood up, moving quickly to join her as she stepped back from the doorway. His limp was almost gone. He shut the door and resisted the urge to lean against it, instead following T.J. down the hall.

"What's wrong?" The medic's tone became professional.

"The scientists have reported a problem with the environmental control. It's not too serious, not yet, but half of ship's temperature is dropping and the other half's rising." Young turned to look at her.

"How long has this been going on?"

"Only about twenty minutes. The it was a fairly quick change."

"Is there anywhere that the temperature's normal? I didn't notice anything in my quarters." T.J. nodded.

"A couple of places seem to be all right. Your quarters and this hallway, Lieutenant Merrel's quarters and that hallway, the hallways leading to water storage, and the kitchen area."

"That's it? What about the gateroom, and... the control room?" T.J. looked down at their feet.

"They're both very hot, sir. The scientists are taking turns looking at the console for solutions. None of them can stay in there for longer than 15 minutes." They passed through a door and Young noticed the temperature beginning to climb. Young didn't see much point in asking the question, but he asked it anyway.

"What about Franklin?" T.J. looked pained.

"Not much change, Colonel. His heartrate went up a little, but he's still catatonic. I can't be sure if what I gave him even affected anything. And we had to move him into one of the hallways because the medical area's starting to freeze."

"That damn chair." Young sighed. "Right. So where's everyone else?" They stopped at the gateroom.

"In here, sir," T.J. explained. "We know they all can't stay for very long, but it's a little cooler than the control room, and it's the only place big enough for everyone." Young nodded.

"Okay. Let's get this show on the road."

Conversation in the gateroom slowed as he and T.J. entered, then picked up again immediately with more fervor than before. Everyone was sweating and Young found himself wishing desperately that he could take off his uniform. Wanting to remain professional in the face of an issue, he instead contented himself with opening the top button of his shirt. He waved his arms placatingly as he stepped up to address the group.

"All right, everybody, all right, settle down!" The roar slowly disintegrated into a murmer, then reasonable quiet. "Now, as you may have noticed, the temperature's a little off in here." There were some incredulous noises in reaction to his understatement. "We're doing our best to fix that. But in the meantime, we need to relocate to the area's where the temperature is still stable."

"Yeah, but how long is _that_ gonna last?" one of the civilians shouted. "We're liable to all be fried by morning!"

"Yes, yes we might," Young admitted. "But as I said, we're doing our best to avoid that."

"Who's doing their best?" another demanded. "Our _remaining_ scientists?"

"Yes," Young answered again, his calm beginning to wane. "They're all highly trained professionals, and -"

"Last I heard, Rush was the only one who knew what was going on! What are we gonna do without him?"

"We're gonna die, that's what!"

"It's not like that's anything new! Ever since we showed up to this damn place -"

"People! _People_!" Young waved his arms again for quiet, shouting over the quickly accumulating noise. He saw Greer reaching for his automatic, but signalled the seargant to leave it alone. The group slowly began to quiet down, but as if under protest. Young took a deep breath as a bead of sweat trickled down his nose. "Look, I know losing Rush makes things harder. But he's gone, and we can't change that. And staying here in this heat and arguing isn't going to fix anything. We need to stay calm and organized, and help each other out as much as possible if we're going to get through this." He paused, trying to encourage everyone with a determined expression. "Now, Lieutenant Scott and Ms. Wray will be splitting you all up into groups for relocation to the areas that are unaffected. It'll be smaller, and there won't be much privacy, but we'll all be alive and if we can just cooperate with each other, it should make things easier. I will be assigning one or two soldiers to each group as chaperones." There was a muttered wave of protest from some of the civilians. He kept going. "Please listen to them - they will be there to keep you safe." The second comment brought a small wave of bitter laughter. He suppressed a sigh. "I want each of you to choose a partner. Once you've been relocated, if you need something from your quarters or have to go anywhere, _stay with your partner_. Don't go outside of the designated areas alone, and let the soldier in charge know you're going so that you can be helped in case anything happens. I know it might not seem like anything could happen, but temperature can have strong effects. Hopefully soon, this will all get taken care of."

He nodded at Scott and Wray, and they moved into the crowd, organizing people into groups and trying to keep everyone calm. Morale had gone down since they'd lost Rush, which Young considered ironic since practically everyone had hated the man. But even the civilians had recognized Rush's value in keeping them alive, and nerves were running high in the absence of the scientist. Young felt the familiar trickles of guilt and doubt seeping into his stomach, making him consider his actions over and over again. He'd left a member of his crew alone on an alien planet - and a member of the crew that had been very important, no less. But did that outweigh the harm the man could and had caused? He was obsessed! Mightn't things have been worse if he'd remained on the ship? Did anybody else realize that? Young rubbed his eyes and moved over to talk to Greer. Rush had been dangerous - he'd deserved what he'd gotten.

ooo00ooo

"Okay, Chloe, Eli, you guys stay in this group." Scott waved them over to where he was standing. Chloe hurried up to her lover with Eli trailing behind. "I'm gonna end up chaperoning, so why don't you two stick together?"

"Yeah, I'll be your partner," Eli said to Chloe, a little eagerly but without his usual enthusiasm. Not with what was on his mind. Although he still added, "Totally." Chloe smiled at her friend, then took Scott's hand and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Stay safe, okay?" she cautioned. Scott ran his fingers over her hair.

"Sure." He moved off to help with the rest of the groupings. Chloe sighed.

"Hey, relax," Eli said, giving her a one-armed hug. "I mean, geez, at least this is just the heating system. We've been through a lot worse." Chloe nodded, watching Scott's progress among the groups.

"I know. I just hope it stays less than a lot worse."

"They'll figure it out." Eli sounded less sure of himself than usual. Chloe bit her lip and turned to look at him.

"Without Rush? Eli, I'm not saying they're idiots, but he knew a lot more than they did. Everybody knows that." Eli swallowed hard and shifted uncomfortably.

"I'm sure they can come up with something..."

"I hope so." Chloe was distracted, looking for Scott again among the shrinking crowds. Eli cleared his throat and looked at her, swallowing hard for a second time.

"Chloe, what... what do you think about... about Rush..." Eli trailed off, not wanting to say the word "dying." Chloe suddenly wasn't distracted anymore, glancing back at Eli and giving him her undivided attention.

"About Rush... getting killed?" She hesitated over the words, but said them anyway. Eli nodded. Chloe took a deep breath. "I wasn't exactly fond of him, Eli. My father..." Her voice broke. She swallowed and went on. "But at least he could keep this ship together. And he tried, tried to save our lives. I didn't want him dead. I'm... sorry about what happened." She tilted her head and looked at Eli gently, sadly. "Are you okay?" Eli looked down at his shoes.

"Chloe, what if I was to tell you... to tell you that -"

"Eli!"

Eli turned his head to see Colonel Young heading toward them. Part of his brain cringed in apprehension and part of it swore in anger. The rest just stared at the man numbly.

"Eli, I want you to help out the scientists." Eli blinked.

"What, me? Like, on the environtmental stuff?" Young nodded, his tone firm.

"Yes, you." Eli shook his head in confusion.

"But... but Colonel, I barely know a word of Ancient! The times I helped before I was just working with numbers! This is like, studying the console controls. How am I going to help?" Young shrugged.

"Won't hurt to have another genius mind in there. Maybe they'll need some mathwork done. C'mon." Eli looked back at Chloe. She smiled and squeezed his hand.

"Go on, Eli. I'll find another partner." Eli hesitated, and she gave him an encouraging look. "Go on. Save the ship." Eli had to smile back.

"Chloe -"

"C'mon, Eli," Colonel Young interrupted. "Let's go." Eli nodded reluctantly and let go of Chloe's hand. He wasn't going to talk about the kino footage with Young standing right next to him. As they headed off through the crowd, Chloe gave him a wave.

"Stay safe!" Eli smiled, happy that she offered him the same cautioning as Matt.

"You all right?" Young's voice broke Eli out of his reverie.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, as fine I can be on a ship that's temp gauge is all wonky." Eli gestured crazily for emphasis. Young didn't say anything for a moment.

"Eli, I get the feeling you're having doubts." Eli jumped, startled, and tried to mask it with an innocent smile.

"Uh, doubts about what?"

"Doubts about me." They stepped outside the gateroom and Young lowered his voice as they continued down the hall. "Look Eli, I know what you're thinking - you want to tell people about what we deleted off the kino. But telling people won't change anything - it'll just make things look awkward, and I think I've had enough doubt cast on my leadership for one week. These people need someone in charge that they can trust. And morale is already down since we lost Rush - the last thing they need is to find out that he tried to frame me for murder right before it happened." Eli nodded nervously. Young stopped walking. "Look, just keep it to yourself, okay? We don't need any more dirty laundry." Eli tried to smile.

"Yeah, okay. I guess it's just the old 'honest is the best policy' drill playing up." Young sighed.

"Usually, I applaud that proverb. But in this case, it just isn't helpful. Okay?" Eli nodded.

"Okay." Young gave him a single nod back and continued down the hallway. Eli hurried after him, still trouble and unsure.

And nervous.

He'd never deleted the kino footage.

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Please review, etc.


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